Book Review: Cure Your Democracy by John Cooker, MRI

The ongoing battle of Republican v Democrat (also known as Conservatives / Liberals, as well as some uglier terms) has been getting more and more fierce as the years go on.

If you have been following any political news, you have probably noticed any voting in congress is almost always a 'Red v Blue' battle, and virtually nothing gets done.  What little production there is always causes arguments, name calling, and plenty of fuel for the Glenn Becks and Ariana Huffingtons of the world.

I was recently offered to review a book that addresses such partisanship, and I love it.  The book, Cure Your Democracy, not only discusses the dangerousness of partisanship in a 21st century environment, but it proves that this partisanship is, in actuality, A DISEASE.

Yep, you heard right.  If you're hardcore left or right, you are diseased.  But fret not, there is a cure!

This book is, of course, a little tongue in cheek.  It reads almost like a medical journal, and took me a few days to paw through the 260-plus pages.  However, it was well-worth the read, and I recommend this book to anyone who gives a damn about politics.

As for me, I'm mostly a centrist, but have found myself infected with both diseases (Democratitus and Democratosis) at different stages of my life.  Nowadays, I'd like to consider myself virtually political-disease free, but I carry around a 55-gallon drum of Purell just in case.

(...the way political strife is growing in this country, I'm considering a Haz-Mat suit as well...)

This book is a very fun read.  It explains how both the left and right are guilty of stalling this country, and it's obvious when you read blogs and listen to radio/tv shows how each side viciously blames the other for our current woes.

The book will help you test for, identify, and (hopefully) treat whichever disease you find yourself infected with.  There are allergy tests (Does NASCAR turn you on?  Does the thought of Michael Moore make you queasy?) which will make you smirk, and by the time you reach the 'Treatment' section you'll have a goofy grin on your face about how stupid partisanship really is.

Taking the thought of this partisanship and extremism as an actual illness, it becomes obvious to me.  Rush, Fox News, MSNBC, Thom Hartmann and other far left/right outlets are only spreading this disease and making it more powerful by the hour.  If we want to cure this pandemic, we need to treat it at the source and eliminate the major contagions.

Yet, both sides would argue that Knowledge is Power, free speech, and the like.  It's a shame too, since these political shepherds are corralling as many mindless sheep as possible, and all in the name 'of the greater good.'

Speaking as someone who has voted both R and D, depending on the person and the issue, I would like to see partisanship end.  Mr. Cooker also has a petition going to help end partisanship and get American moving forward.  If you think like I do, and want to see an end to 'politics as usual' please click the below button and sign with me.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Again, I highly recommend this book if you like to read about politics.  While I'll never run for office, I do care where this country goes, and make sure to vote at every election.  Whether on the left, right, or somewhere in the middle, Cure Your Democracy is a book you need to read.

Also be sure to check out www.cureyourdemocracy.com.

Book Review: Full Rising Mooner by Mooner Johnson

Buckle your seatbelts, wax your ass-hairs, plant your tongue firmly in your cheek, and get ready for a swear-riddled ride you'll never forget.

Mooner Johnson and his madcap crew of ex-wives, family members and supporting cast shine brightly in Full Rising Mooner.  This novel joins Mooner on one of his escapades, and will suck you in from page 1.

Even the dedication is fantastic:

This book is dedicated to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, without which I would be but one more listless and uninteresting man.

And it gets better.

Murdered environmentalists, seductive grandmothers, and Rick Perry jokes galore fill this book.  For someone that typically reads slowly, I devoured the 438 pages of hilarity.   I also learned a few things from this book:

• Going forward, I will help conserve water by peeing in the sink.  I don't have a water bill of my own, per se, so I'll be doing this at friends' houses, to help them out.  (I'm such a giver)
• I learned about 23 new ways to incorporate swearing into my life.
• I'll never look at someone's grandmother the same way again.
• The same goes for the pat-down ladies at the local courthouses...

If you are easily offended or can't take a joke, this book is not for you.  If ass humor turns you off, you're best buying another book.  But if the inner child in you loves low-brow-yet-witty humor, you're going to love this book.

My autographed copy

I'm trying my best to skirt around the plot, because you really need to read this book for yourself.  It's part murder mystery, part ass-themed circus, and completely insane.

But therein lies the beauty of it.  Mooner is crazy.  There's no denying that.  Hell, even he admits it.  But you'll be right there with him, conducting the crazy train and laughing your ass off.

Full Rising Mooner is available on Amazon.com and for e-readers galore.  For a taste of what to expect, make sure to go to Mooner's blog and start catching up on the many characters in Mooner's life.

Finally, if you love Rick Perry as much as the rest of the nation, check out Mooner's store for various "Fuck Rick Perry" gear.  More to be posted soon, once I can get cafepress to let me upload again (blargh).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways For Small Businesses to Market With Images and Design

I am a part of the Business 2 Blogger network, and I was lucky enough to be selected to review a Marketing book.  I received this book on a Friday, opened it on a Saturday morning, and DEVOURED it through the weekend.

It's that good.

The book is called Visual Marketing:  99 Proven Ways For Small Businesses to Market With Images and Design and is written by David Langton and Anita Campbell.  It is an easy to read, easy to follow manual for any person in business that wants to thrive in the 21st century.

And this is where I come in.  I blog, so I am marketing my own brand of "Brandon" on a daily basis.  My blog is my website, my marketing, and my personal business (hence the advertising spaces).  The better my site looks acts and performs, the better my 'brand' is performing.

If you blog, you're in business for yourself.  If you freelance at all, you're in business for your self.  If either conditions apply, you need to buy, read and learn from this book.

The authors talk about tips and tricks to unleash your site's potential, as well as show you examples of success stories in different industries.  They will show you the effectiveness of word clouds and QR codes, and how to implement them into your website.

After reading this book, I played around with some word cloud generators and came up with this:

I like the little 'UREMDURDRDURDRDURDRDUR' in there...

I'm not sure what to do with it yet, and I may change the design to be shaped like Idaho (or a middle finger) but the idea is now floating in my head, along with half a dozen others.

Each page is filled with visual example after visual example, and there are "Takeaway Tips" galore.  Since pictures are worth 1,000 words, there are easily hundreds of thousands of ideas in this book.

What Visual Marketing also showed me is the growing demand for graphics designers with a flair for marketing.  I have dabbles with graphics design in an informal way in the past, and I can construct a pretty basic website, but I am nowhere near the level to do some of the ideas listed in the book.  It shows a need for a marketing department in any successful company, and how important social media and outside-the-box thinking is for the 21st century.

In other words, it's making me want to go back to school, so I can 'put to paper' all of these cool ideas swimming around inside my head.

For now, I will leave it to the professionals.  If you consider yourself a professional, and are marketing your business in this economy, Visual Marketing:  99 Proven Ways For Small Businesses to Market With Images and Design is a must-have for your bookshelf.  Most business professionals are familiar with the Cheezy "Business Building" genre of books, and know if you get 1-2 gems out of a book, you're doing OK.  I challenge you to read Visual Marketing and come away with no less than 20.

Again.  It's that good.

To purchase this book at Amazon, please go here.  Print and kindle versions are available.  For Barnes & Noble / Nook-heads, please go here.  Any other versions, please go to http://visualmarketingbook.com.

What does The Simple Dude and my penis have in common?

...they'll get you more blog followers.

First, I want to tell you about The Simple Dude and his new e-book.  It's called

Grow Your Blog:

Proven Ways To Add Followers Every Single Day

and it works.  You can read more about the book here, or simply buy the e-book on Amazon or Smashwords.  At the low price of $1.99, it is well worth the price and so much more.

Reading the book, SD gives tips on blog layouts, marketing, and general awesomeness.  The humor infused into the book makes it a pleasurable read, and I can practically guarantee you'll find at least one blogging improvement you can use, if not dozens.

I have been blogging since January.  I may have 640-something followers right now, but I'm still learning.  His book has given me a lot of great ideas (pimping, for example) that I will use to improve my overall reach.  

Blog pimpin ain't easy (a line from his book...) but it pays off.  In this age of 'follow me and I'll follow you back' Social Media, you really need to show your appreciation for other bloggers if you want them to show an appreciation for you.  Think of it as scratching someone's back, and then it's your turn to scratch yours.

Plus, as a bonus, you can wear a crushed-velvet suit and a badass hat.  If that isn't a reason to pimp, I don't know what is.

(...wait... you don't get to dress up?  Can I do it anyway?)

Reading this book will take you 20 minutes.  Then re-reading the book and writing down your 'ways to improve my blog' list will take another 20.  Putting the ideas into practice?  Priceless.  After all new followers are forever...

Oh, and just in case, if you're not following The Simple Dude's blog, go there and follow.

So... how does this have anything to do with my penis??

I was on twitter Wednesday night, and somehow "The Helicopter" was brought up in conversation with @VickiLikesFrogs.  (It's twitter... don't ask, just go with it.)  Jillsmo asked for a drawing of me doing the helicopter, and this is what spawned...

This picture resulted in a number of re-tweets and hilarity, and I ended up getting a new blog follower!  Yay!

But it wasn't done.  The avalanche had started, and new followers were flooding in...

Maybe I should do stupid penis tricks more often?  Give the people what they want, after all...

In short, go buy The Simple Dude's book, download it, love it.  That, added with a few anatomical acrobatics, will help grow your blog.